bubby has a 28x48 pier and beam home his daughter bought cheap, it had termite damage on the front, back and east side beams that I'm sure goes into the bottom plate and wall studs plus the 105 siding. he wants me to fix it and level it which I can do. I got the bottle jacks, will have to get some 4x6 beams to span the floor joist and shims to level it with once all the wood is replaced. what I need to know is what a fair price for doing it would be nowadays. Haven't done any of this stuff in about 12-13 yrs, and it's going to be f-cking hot.

Any squatting or bending? How high/low is the work, chest, head? Need a duct jack to raise beam into place?


The hassle and do I have to crawl around affect my price.


Are those beams and pilings that significantly eaten up? Do they still have enough integrity to “let it ride” if the infestation was eradicated now?


Just my little bit to add. Wish I could add more to your questions

I used to always rent a duct jack when had any LVLs or premade headers and jive to raise up. I added a couple hundred a day just bring that jack onsite.

I got a 1/2 dozen 20ton bottle house jacks. I think theyre 20s or maybe more. Heavy little SOBs to tote around

about 24 inches to work with under there, pier and beam over dirt. those three sides are eaten up bad the joist running north and south are good, I planned on using the 4x6s and jacks to lift the north and south side one at a time, replace the beams and any plate and studs then do the east side 28ft last then level everything. but it will all be on our belly or back.

i have five or six if they haven't grown legs.

I will be looking forward to some YouTube vids!

STX, Let me ask you: What do YOU think is a fair price? It's your "friend" How good of a friend?

Are you doing this on your time (as in retired and nothing better to do? On a schedule?

Yeah, it's HOT, so only work mornings and evenings, think of a daily rate, and can you do this yourself or are you going to have to get day laborers?

I am in SW MO, and I do work like that. I am in a low wage area, usual factory jobs pay 11-14 bucks an hour to start. I am billing at 45 an hour right now, per man hour. If they want a bid price, I figure how many hours I think it will take, add I 20 percent, and bid it. You should get more for that work where you are, it is highly technical work not just any framer can do. And work not very many contractors are willing to do. Probably why he asked you. He may have had a hard time finding anyone, or gotten a price he thought was crazy. For me, the reason you call me is because you either will not, or cannot do the work yourself. I charge what I charge. If it is worth that not to have to do it yourself, you will pay it.

Fixing to put a metal roof on for a good friend. He insists on paying my normal rate, says I do it for a living so I get paid. For him, I would do it for free if I had time to. That is a good friend. Friend asking for you to spend hours of your life doing a crappy job for less than you could make elsewhere is not a good friend. Would you rather tile a shower than do his job? If so, his job should pay enough to make you not mind doing it instead of that tile job. Whatever that looks like.

my contractor buddy said he'd want at least 10 grand, it's hard for me to figure a price till the siding is pulled off to see how many of the studs have to be replaced, so I'm just trying to come up with a fair price for labor and let them pay for material. I will have my son and one other helping, I pay them 15hr., i'm thinking it will take me maybe a week at most. it is 50 miles out of town so I got to figure that.

on flooring, I have set prices per sq yard or foot for everything.

Your back must be feeling alright to even consider doing something like this.

Did something similar recently for a friend. Guy who got me my first big jobs. I wouldn't give a firm price unless it was high. $10,000 doesn't sound off the wall.
Stuff like that I do $35/hr per man and 15%-20% markup on materials.

The one I did was a freebie out of gratitude

Seems like $10k is doing him a favor, walking into a project like that.

What does that type of work go for by the hour.

You could get a professional estimate and discount from there.

40/hr x 3 men=120 x 80 hrs= 9600. Round it up 10 seems a good start, considering youre not sure what youre getting into.

I'm sure you already know this, but it's definitely gonna be a lot worse than you think. Never seen one that wasn't.....
I hate renovation work, give me new construction everyday.

Amen!!!! Straightforward work, obvious and complete materials requirements.

I know that's why I stopped doing remodeling work years ago. more than once I under bid a job and ate it. I gave them a price and honored it.

Is this a friend discount job or a friend you know it will be done right and not rip me off job?

Over estimate and then at end of job back off whatever you believe is fair.

Take into account ALL your time even if you aren't gonna charge him for it.

10 grand is cheap....doubt a contractor would even look at it for that around here. Tell him 10 and tell him you’ll adjust it up if you need to.

he is a good friend who is trying to get his daughter into her first house, he was my manager when I worked for oil states energy services.

I think you're going to find that even 10k is a HUGE favor, when it's all said and done.

You can only price a scope of work. The problem with these kinds of projects is that you don't know the complete scope.

If you're into the bottom plates, you're into the subfloor.

Basing your expectations on just what you can see or with only minor surgical demo, you can expect that scope and repair costs will expand by 250%-300%.

You also get to spend the duration of the project in the role of bearer of bad news.

If he is that good a friend then he should just trust you to charge him appropriately at the end of the job.

Id give him a range and tell him ill do my best to make it as cost efficient as possible without screwing either you or I.

guess I'll have to feel him on what he can spend.

that's probably what I'll have to do. just figure my time and labor once its done.

You seem like a very honest guy stx one who trys hard to give the best value for your work. You know why I know this? Because your struggling enough with it to post your inner thoughts on here and solicit feedback from many that you dont even know personally.

i'd probably come up with an hourly rate i could live with and bid it for 2 weeks plus materials. let him know that up front so he has an idea of what it could cost if schit goes sideways. termite work sucks. i had ants in my rim joists at camp when i tore of the deck for an "easy" replacement. i kept tearing schit out until i was afraid the front of the house was going to collapse. plywood floor was delaminated, sliding door had to be pulled out along with about a foot or so of floor that had god knows what kind of linoleum under wood under carpet. ended up sistering about 2 feet on every floor joist. what a fuggen bitch. replaced it all with PT and sprayed the living schit out of everything i could see with turbo ant killer. if i would have tried to bid that job, i'd a lost my ass.

I doubt id trust anyone more on this forum. And I dont even know him. Hes always been honest about what hes been through, loved his mama when she passed, etc etc. The kinda guy that takes no schit, tells you how it is, take him or leave him.

Assume you’ll be replacing damn near every stud.... because you will. Subfloors are likely too. For a friend, I’d give him a baseline for just replacing the beams and leveling. Let him know what you’ll charge for any extras that pop up. Realistically, I’d bet your labor doubles When you start digging in and it’ll still be a great deal for him. Contractors around here would start at $25k and by then end it would be almost cheaper to reinforce what you can, cut out the bad and totally rebuild. Bending over, working on my back or having the homeowner help doubles my price

A good friend?
He buys materials, pays me a wage.
Just going to have to trust that my billing hours were working hours.

Fairest way to fly.

You could give him a loose number.
But some hear that as set, some as the absolute max.
No matter how you present it.

I just try to treat people the way I'd like to be treated.

what I'm planning on doing.

I doubt she paid much more than that for the house.

He will be in town in a couple of days, I'm going to show him what he's looking at, I don't think he's seen it himself from our conversation, think i'll let him decide what extent he's willing to go to fix it after he's seen it..